Former political donor Ed Buck was convicted on federal charges, including giving methamphetamine to two men who died in Buck's West Hollywood apartment.
It took a federal jury hours to convict the longtime Democratic donor on Tuesday.
Buck was convicted in a Los Angeles federal court of "two counts of distribution of controlled substances resulting in death, stemming from the deaths of Gemmel Moore in July 2017 and Timothy Dean in January 2019, according to City News Service. Officials say Buck was present at the location where both deaths happened.
Both charges carry 20-year mandatory minimum sentences in prison.
Buck was arrested in September 2019. In October 2020, Buck pleaded not guilty to federal charges in those two deaths.
In court, prosecutors argued that Buck had a "fetish" for injecting meth into men "until they became comatose"; however, the defense argued that the victims had underlying medical conditions.
One of Buck's attorneys said his client "did nothing more than enjoy party-and-play sessions involving drugs and sex with men he met online" and that he was not responsible for the victims' underlying medical conditions, according to City News Service.
Meanwhile, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsay Bailey claimed that Buck "would find desolate, vulnerable victims and push meth on them over and over ... until they went unconscious."
Over 20 witnesses appeared in court, including some men who spoke of their experience of smoking meth Buck provided them. One man claimed Buck became "angry" when the man showed signs of an overdose.
In addition to donating over $500,000 to Democratic politicians, Buck also once ran for a seat on the West Hollywood City Council.